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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1922)
vmiv. rora THK GAZKTTKTIMKS. IIF.rrXKK. OKF.GON, THURSDAY. MAIiCII 25. 1922. 1 First Picture of Princess Mary's Wedding L. MONTERESTELLI Marble and Granite Works PENDLETON, OREGON Fine Monument and Cemetery Work All parties interested in getting work in my line should get my prices and estimates before placing their orders All Work Guaranteed fa V " s 'rv V Shown above is the first photograph to reach the United States, picturing the wedding of Princes! Mary to Lord Lascclles in Westminster Abbey, London. Members of the Royal family are shown at the right Arrow indicates Lord Lascelles and Princess Mary taking the wedding vows. I Community Service The Byers Chop Mill t Formerly SCHEMPPtl MILL) STEAM ROLLED BARLEY AND WHEAT After the 20th o( September will handle Gasoline, Coal Oil and Lubricating Oil You Will Find Prompt and Satisfactory Service Here fllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllH 1 ! To the Automobile Public i 4 Have the NO NOK self-adjusting bearing bolts installed, and eliminate your bearing trou bles. They have been tested and give perfect satisfaction. Made for all cars and trucks. WE SELL ZEROLENE OILS 15c per quart. Over 5 gallon quantities 570 per gallon. Differential and transmis sions filled at 15c per pound. Fell Bros. 1 Block East of Hotel. Auto Repair Shop. i!!!lilll!!!!i!!!lllUllllllIlll!l!!ilil Ex-Service Men You are to get your Oregon State Bonus this month. Are you going to follow the old saying "EASY COME, EASY GO," or are you going to taake that money work for you J Save It Why not put it into a SAV INGS ACCOUNT IN TfflS BANK and draw i interest every nix months. Then when opportunity presents itself you will be prepared to meet it. FARMERS & STOCKCROWERS NATIONAL BANK Heppner Oregon FARMER S FEARS BASED 1 FAGIS Secretary of Agriculture Out lines Dangers That Con front U. S. in Farm Situation Believes National Legislation Is Needed and Help of Country Is Imperative By Henry C. Wallace. Editor's Note Henry C. Wall ace, secretary of Agriculture, is in a position no other human being can occupy, the executive head of the government's vast activities in and for the farming industry. He senses the cause of much of our trouble and offers a series of suggestions that may help clear up an ever darkening situation. Most of the epoch-making machin ery, the plow, the corn planter, the two horse cultivator, the mower, the reaper and the steam thresher, were invented prior to the Civil War, but it was not until after 1800 that these implements came into wide use. Tney were especially adapted to the great prairie country where the farmer cculd turn a furrow straight away for a mile or more. With the wooden plow, the sickle, and the flail a week's labor of one man was requir ed to produce 20 bushels of wheat on an acre of land. With the im proved implements the same amount of wheat could be produced in one and one-half days. Better machin ery and larger teams multiplied man labor by four. The increase in the domestic and foreign demands for food was one of the most important factors in stimu lating agricultural production. Our urban population in 1860 stood at 16 per cent of the total; by 1900 it had risen to 40 per cent of the total. Cheap food and cheap transportation greatly stimulated our industries and also gave us access to foreign mar kets, more especially the countries of western Europe filled with large industrial population. The improve ment in transportation and the cheap ness of our foodstuffs opened to us the markets of the world. As a result of this extraordinary combination of forces the production of crops per capita of agricultural workers was increased by about 58 per cent, and production per capita of total population increased about 39 per cent. We became the largest surplus producing coutnry in the world. The Trouble Starts. Naturally such conditions made for an extensive type of agriculture. The richest large body of land in the world was either free or very cheap and the best farm machinery in the world was to be had. Labor was not plentiful, therefore the tendency for the individual to cultivate the maximum acreage and lean toward a one-crop system which did not give the greatest yields per acre but which did result in the highest yield per man. Early in the twentieth century, it became evident that the tide was turning in agricultural production as related to domestic consumption. Our per capita production was showing unmistakable signs of decline. City population was increasing far more rapidly than rural population. In the twenty years following 1900 urban and village population increased by 26,600,000, while rural population increased but 3,100,000. In 1900 ur ban and village population was 48 per cent of the total; in 1920 it was 60 per cent. During the ten years 1910 to 1920, the cities and villages of the north had increased in popula tion by 23 per cent, while the in crease in the open country in the same region was but 1.5 per cent. Rivals Appear. With the coming of peace and the inevitable period of reconstruction the unusual foreign demand for our agricultural products subsided. The seas were opened to South America and Australia, which had been bot tled up, were able to deliver their accumulated surplus. For a year and a half American agriculture has been undergoing a very serious depression due to the production of more food stuffs than we can use ourselves and more than we can sell at a fair price. Farm crops have been selling for very much less than the actual cost of production and very much below the prices which prevailed during the five pre-war years; also they have been selling for very much less re- '---- . . . Poem jby yigjUncle John THE LAVISH HAND The Lord admires a cheerful giv-! er the one that never stops that don't aspire to own flivver, but gives an gives until he drops, lhe scripter, too, advises lendin' on a mighty generous scale she hints that 1 should keep a-spendin' till I'm minus all my kale. . . . The Good Book sez, the chronic jinx that lost because he's always square, may stack up like a Wall Street snoozer treasures golden over there. And when you see a feller, one that ain't got any coat you want to be a cheerful giver and let him have your nanny goat. You recollect the laws of travel, with some poor but ornery scamp jest grab his arm, an hit the gravel, tow him quick right into camp. If you should find a hungry brother, rattlin' in his starvin' hide, pass yer roll you'll find another, way off on the other side. . . . The cheerful giver, cheerful loser, or the cheerful lendin' gent, will never face no grim accuser in the heaven where he's went. . . . The world is full of admonitions, fer the cheerful folks to do but them that toilers the con ditions, I find out is mighty few. IF A MAN DOESN'T THINK THE WORLD IS GETTING BETTER, HE 13NT- New Head of Government Saving System v Xf v i Ml 4 J-ew wauace, jr., ot Indiana, a captain in the A. E. F. during the world war, has been placed in charge of the Government Savings System of the Treasury Department This includes Postal Savings and Trea sury Saving Certificates. ty? A, AuroCASTTft- "' latively than other basic commodi ties. That is but another way of saying that the wages of farmers are far lower now than the wages of any other group. This has resulted in a condition which, if continued, will within a relatively short period im pose a heavy burden upon domestic consumers. The farmer cannot con tinue to produce at a loss. Decreased production will result in prices so high that city consumers will com plain bitterly. New Policies. During the next twenty years, eith er consciously or unconsciously the United States will adopt fairly def inite policies as to industry and ag riculture. We are approaching that period which comes in the life of every nation when we must determ ine whether we will strive for a well rounded self-sustaining national life in which there shall be a fair bal ance between industry and agricul ture or whether, as have so many na tions in the past, we shall sacrifice our agriculture for the building of cities and expect our food to be pro duced not by independent farmers but by men and women of the pre sent type. Dispassionate consideration of this larger problem is made harder now because our agriculture is in very bad shape, much worse than is fully real ized especially here in the East. There seems to be a tendency to re- 00NAL0. GO TO THE 80AR0 AND NOW PUT IT DCWN AS I GIVC IT HAMC W0RK TH,S PROBLEM 30 THAT TO YOU. IF A FARMER nlMHC THE CLASS MAY SEE. HAS FOUR THOUSAND SWEET VmmfM '';SHSfE mi HUMfc. ',7 18 1 1 11 11 11 MWA Inn.,., , , i AND SELLS THEM AT SIXTY CENTS A J f "-- f r . BUSHEL, WHAT WILL HE GET ? ' gard the complaints and appeals which are being voiced by the farm ers and the people who speak in their behalf as simply the incurrence of grumblings which have been heard from farmers in past periods of de pression. Now the truth is that we are passing through the most severe agricultural depression we have ever experienced. It is not simply a case of tow prices for farm products. We have seen lower prices in times past. The trouble now is that whereas prices on farm products, speaking generally, are lower than before the war, prices of the things the farmer must pay for, including transporta tion, wages, taxes, and the loan of money, remain near the war levels. Hence the purchasing power of the major farm crops is lower than at any time in our history. A Great Task. Our first task is to bring agricul ture through this critical period with the least possible damage. Senators and Congressmen from the surplus producing states appreciate the grav ity of the situation, as indeed, do hundreds of thousands of business men who have dealings with the far mer directly or indirectly. It is quite natural, therefore, that there should be consideration of legislative mea sures which might afford relief. As is always the case in periods of finan cial depression well meaning people whose understanding of economic forces is not all that might be hoped for, come forward with ill considered olans. Such have had scant consid eration. Efforts at relief by Congres sional action have been directed along three general lines, first im proved credit facilities; second, per missive legislation which will encour age the farmer himself to improve methods of marketing farm crops third, assurance of free, open and competitive markets for crops and live stock through the exercise of reasonable government supervision over market agencies. That anyone should be disposed to regard such legislation as of the na ture of class legislation intended to or having the effect of benefitting one group at the expense of other groups, is surprising. It is not in any sense class legislation. Its primary purpose is to maintain agricultural produc tion that the people may be fed. We have come to the time when team work is needed, yes, impera tive. There must be sympathy, un derstanding and co-operation be tween agriculture, industry and busi ness. They are dependent upon one another. They are alike necessary to a well rounded national life. They nust work together for the good of all. To Reduce Costs. The paradox of our present large food surplus notwithstanding, we are fast ceasing to become a food export ing nation. The startling rapidity of our industrial growth points to the ipproaching need of a materially in cearsing production. Enlarged pro duction may be brought about in two ways. There are still large areas of land which may be brought under the plow not easily or cheaply but as need may require and prices jus tify. And larger yields may be had from the lands already under cultiv ation by the practice of more inten sive methods. In either case the con sumer can not hope to buy food as cheaply in the future as in the past, unless there be large reductions in the costs of producing that food, and when I say costs of production ! mean also costs of marketing, for production and marketing are insep arable. In its own interest, there fore, and for its own benefit, the con suming public must aid in making available to the farmer every facility and business device which may help him in reducing production costs. Some Suggestions. In the administration of our credit machinery whether by government agencies or otherwise the effect on agriculture must be given more con sideration than in the past. Credit for productive and improve ment purposes must be made avail able to the farmer on terms which the seasonal character of agricultural production makes necessary. Improvement in marketing meth ods through the organization of co operative associations should be per mitted and encouraged. Farm products should be transport ed at the lowest possible costs con sistent with the maintenance and sat isfactory operation of the transport ing agency. The collection of statistical infor mation as to production and con sumption of agricultural products at home and abroad should be greatly extended, and made more generally available. The extension of cultivated land should not be encouraged until care ful survey has made plain the prac tibility of establishing a profitable farming or live stock enterprise. There should be a decided tighten ing up of our policies of land settle ment, including those dealing with reclamation projects. Painstaking study of the costs of production and marketing of farm crops is a necessary preliminary to the reduction of such costs. This study should be made along the line from the farm to the consumer's ta ble. A better understanding of the for ces which influence prices is very much to be desired and is necessary to the intelligent adjustment of pro duction to the needs of consumption. Federal supervision of such insti tutions as public stock yards and mar ket agencies, grain exchanges, and the like is not only expedient but very necessary to the efficient and im partial functioning of such institu tions, and should result in benefit alike to the agencies themselves, the farmers who furnish the raw material and the consuming public. In the foregiong I have not dealt with all matters that should be dealt with in considering what needs to be done to promote intelligent, efficient and continued agricultural produc tion, but have mentioned only mat ters which should have immediate at tention as a necessary preliminary to the development of a wise agricultur al policy. This is not in any sense an appeal for legislation or administra tion for the benefit of a class or group. It is simply an appeal for more intelligent recognition of the" incontrovertible fact that national welfare depends upon a sound agriculture. Homey Philosophy for 1922 I struck an article the other day in one of our popular magazines, which riveted my attention at the fust glance. . . . This dissertation was to the effect that I could stop forgettin' in about ten days, if I would invest four dollars an' ninety nine cents fer a course of absent treatments. . . . Now, it has been my custom fer a long spell, to think twice before permittin' myself to be convinced, so I don't want to stop fcrgettin' the junk an' remcmberin' the other stuff. It's a special privilege to me, to drap into the cyclone cellar of fergctful ness, when the mad roar of unpleas ant memories gets to thunderin an showerin' on my sparsely protected head. . . . Besides this, I am mod erately certain that there's often con siderable money in bein' able to for get at the proper time. ... I be lieve my friend J. 0. Armour would agree with me, especially on the wit ness stand before the investigatin' committee. Still, I may be wrong. FOR RENT Furnished house keeping rooms. See Mrs. Mattie Ad kins. Adv. New Portrait of John D. mm W, t -Ml This is t new, exclusive and one of the few posed portraits of John D. Rockefeller, reputed the world's richest man and founder of tht Standard Oil Company.